Resurfaced Memories
by the divergent demishadowizard
Summary: There's an other variable. Variable 3A. And everything goes as planned. But then there's a glitch. Something goes wrong. She wasn't supposed to do that. She wasn't supposed to remember. And in the end, she wasn't supposed to find her way back.
1. Chapter 1

She opened her eyes to darkness and a terrible headache.

"Ugh..." Groaning, she propped herself up onto her elbows. Bad move. The room spun in circles as she moved her head. Something ran down her face and dripped onto the floor. Shifting her weight onto one elbow, she lifted her hand to her forehead and it came back wet... with blood. And to make matters worse, she couldn't remember a thing.

"Great," she said dryly to herself. "I'm in a wonderful situation. A.) I'm in dark room where I can barely see. B.) Apparently, I have a gash on my forehead. And C.) I can't remember a thing, not even my name." _And Wonderful,_ She continued in her head, _Now, I'm going crazy and talking to myself._ She pulled herself off the floor, trying to ignore the dizzying pains that jolted through her body. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes. _Great Start Taylor._ She thought eyes widened. "Taylor..." she mouthed the name in silence. It sounded familiar and...right. _Taylor...Huh. Now on my list of things I should know, Name is checked off._ She was just about to try and figure out her age, when the room jerked up. Taylor fell forward and hit the opposite wall with her already injured head. "Owww..." She rubbed her head and controlled her will to not throw up as the room continued to move up. Now that her eyes had started to cope with the darkness, she realized that she wasn't in a room, for the lack of an entrance, but in a...boxlike... elevator? Boxes of what looked like supplies slid around as the room jerked its way up.

Taylor made the mistake of standing up again as the box continued wherever it was going, so when it suddenly stopped, she fell forward, yet again. But this time, she had already learned her lesson, and put her hands forward, catching herself before she hit the wall headfirst. She leaned against the wall, still standing up, and rested her head on it with a sigh, closing her eyes once again, hoping to find tranquility in her blank mind. Her peace and quiet was cut short with a loud _CLANG_ and a whole bunch of voices overhead. Taylor heard the sound of locks being undone, and out of instinct, self-consciously looked down to make sure she was decent. She barely had anytime to take in her somewhat long sleeve shirt (stopped at the elbow) that clung to her sides, cargo pants, and boots before the box was filled with blinding light. She squinted up at the source to see a blonde haired boy staring back at her in shock. She felt something that seemed like recognition jolt through her vision cleared and his characteristics became clearer.

He turned his head slightly, his eyes not straying from her, to what seemed like a crowd of teenagers behind him.

"One of you shanks go get Alby!" he ordered. _Shanks?_ Taylor thought, _is that even a word?_

"What do ya' want Newt?" a voice that seemed farther away yelled at the Blondie. The blonde guy, Newt, responded,

"You might want to come see this."

"Why? It's just the monthly greenie. What's so special bout' him?" _Him?_ Taylor thought as another face came into view.

"That's the thing shuck-face. It's a girl." The other boy, dark skinned and couldn't have been any older than 17 or 18, looked down at her with disbelief.

"A Girl?" a voice called from the crowd behind Newt and the other kid...Alby.

"Is she hot?" another rang.

"I call dibbs!" Taylor felt her face flush.

"Shut up ya' slint heads!" Alby, who seemed to be in charge here (where ever here was), yelled.

"Look at her fore head." Muttered Newt. "She's injured."

"Huh." Alby said and the chatter arose again as more boys crowded the opening to the box. Taylor sighed. She hated being the center of attention, but since almost everyone above was gawking at her, she might as well as say something.

"So." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and imitated the dark skinned boys scowl. "Is this a normal thing here? A girl comes up in a box and you all stare at her rather rudely?" Everyone went dead silent at the sound of her voice. Then Alby chuckled.

"She's a sassy one. Someone get a rope!" he ordered to the group behind/around him, while the other, Newt, said to her,

"Hey. Sorry bout' that Sweet Heart. We're getting you out of there right now, don't worry. We not going to hurt you either, okay?" Taylor nodded, the scowl still on her face, but her head was spinning in circles. _Hell right. Do you really expect me to just trust you as it is?_ One part of her thought, when the other part said, _that accent...ugh! How do I know him?_ A rope was lowered down on the other side of the box. She cautiously walked over to it, and put of foot in the little loop at the bottom. She was jerked up quickly, and after Newt offered his hand to help her get up, now stood in the midst of a crowd of 50 some teenage boys. She scanned the crowd, ignoring the rude stares of the boys as they inspected her head to toe. Some one whistled, and Taylor felt her face get hot. She turned to Newt, who was looking at her strangely, and said,

"Why aren't there any girls?" she demanded, looking serious and calm on the outside, when on the inside, all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry.

"Yeah." He winced at the harshness of her voice. "About that. There aren't really any girls here." She stared at him as though he had just told her that pigs could fly.

"You're kidding."

"Sorry greenie." _I have to get out of here._ Taylor ignored the part of her brain that was screaming at her to trust the boy. She spun into action. Bursting into a run, she knocked the staring boys out of the way, momentarily forgetting her aching head.

"Stop her!" She heard Alby shout behind her. While some of the other boys unhelpfully laughed and said,

"Well, we got a runner."

"Not if she leaves, ya' slint head." She heard Newt say, before breaking into a run, as well, chasing after her. Taylor ran at full speed towards the big gap in the large stonewall that surrounded the area, dodging the scattered boys that stood in her way. Soon, the only thing in between her and the exit was a stocky boy who couldn't have been much older than her. Once he registered that she was a girl though, his face broke into surprise.

"Gally! Don't let her get past you!" Someone, probably Newt (the accent), yelled from behind her. Knowing that she couldn't just veer around him, for he would easily follow her, she ran at him. At the last minute, she jumped to the left, and Gally barreled past her. Taylor sprinted past him. She was about to reach the gap, when he slammed into her, knocking her backwards. Her head thunked against the hard stonewall, allowing her to remember it and it's pain, but this time, ten times worse. Gally had her pinned to the wall in what would have been a very awkward position had it been another situation.

"Jackass." She growled at him, but her world was spinning in circles. She could see the other boys running towards them just before her vision flipped upside-down and swirled into nothingness.


	2. Introducing Minho

Chapter 2

Taylor's vision seemed black and white as she opened her eyes. The first things she noticed was pain like a sledgehammer hammering her head and the Asian kid hovering over her.

"Ugh…."

"Feeling good?" the Asian boy smirked. "They just finished the stitches on her head."

"Minho, she awake?" a voice called. _Minho…? That sounds familiar…_ Taylor didn't hear the answer to the question, blackness pulled her back under.

…

There was a soft buzz in Taylor's ears as her eyes fluttered opened. Slowly, she heard the soft buzz take words. _Kill._ _Kill._ _Kill._

"Wha..?" her voice slurred, but the buzzing words stopped immediately. Everything seemed muddled and blurred.

"She's awake!" a voice yelled, and Taylor winced at the loud sound. A guy peered down at her,

"Hey. Can you hear me?" Taylor groaned, but nodded her head. "You've got a small concussion. Loud noises and bright lights will bother you for a few more days. Oh, and terrible headaches won't be unusual." The boy said.

"Jeff! How's she?" The guy, Jeff, turned to talk to someone out of Taylor's field of vision.

"Small concussion…. Her head needed stitches, but in all, not the worst. I would be careful though. Might not want to work her to hard Alby." He answered. There was a loud clatter of something big and heavy being dropped. Taylor winced. Both Alby and Jeff turned sharply towards the sound.

"Chuck! Be more careful!" Someone else said. _Newt?_ Taylor wondered. She groaned, and hoisted herself up on her elbows. Her vision sharpened, but her headache worsened. She scanned the room. _Alby, Jeff, Newt, the Asian….was Minho his name? And that would make that kid…Chuck?_ Taylor listed in her head.

"How long have I been out?" she asked to no one in particular. Newt looked to Alby, and Alby looked to Jeff, but Jeff was busy getting Taylor a cup of water, so Minho answered.

"Bout' four days green bean." She glanced at him and then got a clearer look at him. When she finally did, her mind went on a downspin. _I know him…._ Taylor had definably seen him before. He was muscular with jet-black hair that somehow stuck up perfectly. He had olive colored skin, looked about 17, hovered a few inches above Newt, and was stunningly handsome. He had dirt smudges on his face, but instead of "smudging" his appearance, it made him look so….sexy. _Wait. Taylor, what are you thinking? You don't know him! Right?_ Minho smirked and raised an eyebrow, almost as if he could sense her thoughts.

"Four days?" she repeated dumbly, not knowing what else to say. He nodded. Taylor groaned again, and ran her hand through her soft but tangled hair, out of habit.

"Careful greenie, might open those stitches." Alby warned.

"I have a name, and it's not Greenie." She snapped, already not really liking the guy, though like some of the others, he looked vaguely familiar. Alby looked surprised, but said something she hadn't expected,

"You remember?" _How does he know I'm suffering from amnesia?_ She regarded him with caution.

"Yeah."

"And that is…?" Minho asked.

"Taylor." She muttered. Jeff handed her a cup of water.

"How do you feel?" Jeff asked with concern.

"Like shit." She said between sips. She handed the cup back, and then looked at Newt to see an odd look in his eyes as he looked back at her, she ignored it. "You said you guys weren't planning on hurting me." Taylor accused. "Unless a concussion isn't what you guys call 'hurt'." Newt sighed.

"Well, sweetie, we weren't planning on Gally giving you a concussion. Besides, according to Jeff, the you actually had a really small concussion before, with the head gash and all, but Gally's…. act, lets say, just made it worse." _That accent!… Why is it so familiar?_ Taylor pondered, but responded with,

"Names Taylor. Not sweetie or greenie. Or Green bean." She looked pointedly at Minho. He chuckled.

"Okay Tay."

"Boys." Taylor muttered so softly that only Jeff heard her. He chuckled.

"We'll be having a gathering tonight that will be mandatory for you to join." Alby looked at her, almost as if estimating what she could do. "I'm not sure many of the other's will be willing to have a girl to look after." Taylor flushed. She opened her mouth to say something about how she didn't need to be _looked after_ , but Newt interrupted her.

"I'm not sure I trust her with some of the shanks out there." He said, a little protectively. Minho nodded his agreement. Taylor tilted her head at Newt's vocabulary. Minho took note and quickly explained.

"Glader vocab." That made her more confused. _Glader?_ "Your in the glade. We call ourselves Gladers." He explained further. Taylor smirked.

"How original."

"Slim it. It took us a long time to come up with the name." He replied defensively.

"Back to the point, Minho. We'll make some new rules for you, greenie, just to make sure none of the shanks… try anything." Taylor sighed at her new nickname.

"Great." She said, "I can't wait."

"Well, isn't Miss Sunshine all enthusiastic." Minho chided.

"Well, isn't Mister Annoying Asian becoming a wee-bit aggravating." She shot back. Newt chuckled and Alby sighed in annoyance and she turned on him, "As for you, mister, you look like the one in charge here. Why don't you try to explain why, and how, I got here, the _Glade_ , wherever that is. How _you_ know about my not remembering anything, an-"

"We can't answer that now, sweetie." Newt answered. Taylor scowled, partially because of the answer, partially because of the new nicknames she was getting.

"What do you mean you can't answer that?" Alby stared at her, and she swore she could feel the gaze burning into her brain, reading her mind.

"I'll tell you some now, something I don't normally do. You're in the glade, as Minho said. Outside the walls you tried to run out of is the maze." Taylor tilted her head in question, but didn't interrupt, which Alby was grateful for. "No one goes into the maze except the runners. You don't want to go into the maze, there are things in there that can and will kill you. Don't be surprised if you can't remember anything. No one could in the beginning, and still can't now, unless…. what ever. There are three rules here. 1.) **Never** hurt another Glader. 2.) **Don't** go into the maze unless you're a runner. And 3.) Do your work. That's about it." A loud bell that echoed loudly through Taylor's brain, making her wince rang. Newt looked at her with concern. Minho, who hadn't noticed Taylor's discomfort, announced rather loudly, and happily,

"Chow time!"


	3. But Beforehand

Chapter 3

Taylor walked into Homestead behind Newt, Alby, and Minho, trying to control her headache and spinning questions. Why did she know some of the people here? She felt different feelings of familiarity towards them. The three boys were talking and laughing together, while Taylor continued to think in her own world. Her head was throbbing, and she really couldn't wait to sleep. That made her think, _Where am I going to sleep?_ She was about to ask Newt about it when she noticed that all the boys in the room had suddenly just stopped talking and was staring at her, besides Newt, Alby, and Minho, so the only sound was them talking. She could feel every boy staring at her with facial expressions that made her extremely uncomfortable. Taylor awkwardly cleared her throat, and the three boys in front of her suddenly noticed the silence. Someone whistled, and she felt her face get hot again.

"Now, now. We'll be having none of that." Alby addressed the whistler. "This is Taylor, she just got up and has a terrible headache right now, and we wouldn't want to make it any worse would we boys?" Alby smiled but his voice held no humor. "So now take a nice long look at her, and go back to your own bee's wax." Taylor awkwardly shifted her stance and self-consciously ran her hand through her hair so it landed one her left shoulder as everyone stared at her, even Newt, Alby, and Minho. After what seemed like hours later, Alby finally announced, "Great!" then he turned around and marched up to a dark skinned boy and took a plate of food from him and walked over to a table full of boys, sat down, and started eating. Newt pushed Taylor in front of him so she was in between him and Minho. _Kill_ _, Kill, Kill,_ _Kill._ The voice in her head from before was back. _What? Who?_ Her mind spun. _Kill him. Kill the boy._ It chanted. _What boy?_ Her throat was constricting in what seemed like fear as she asked the stupid question. _There's a few more than just one boy here._ …. _Kill him…_ the voice repeated.

"Hey Green bean." Minho's voice brought her back to reality. She glanced up too see that he had already gotten his food, and that the cook, Newt, and Minho were all waiting for her to get her food.

"Oh. Sorry." She stepped up, and took the plate the cook handed her. "Thanks…um…"

"Frypan." He introduced himself.

"Thanks Frypan." She smiled.

"No Prob' Greenie." He replied. Taylor rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let Newt get his food. She scanned the room looking for a vacant seat to sit in. Someone in the room called Newt over, and he grabbed his tray, and hurried over. Minho stepped beside her.

"Uh, Minho? Where do I sit?" she asked him. He chuckled.

"Any where you shucking want."

"Um…I don't really like that idea." Minho laughed, which made Taylor smile. _It's so easy to make him laugh._ She thought.

"Just sit with us for now."

"Us?" she echoed.

"You'll see."

Author's Note: Hey guys! So this is the first note I've made so far, but…. sorry about this short filler chapter. The fourth one should be up soon. School has been really busy, and my Internet is down at the moment, so I have to go to school to update. But thanks for reading this fanfic, and special thanks to Ambers to Ashes for commenting/reviewing this story! So, yeah, thanks! And please comment.


	4. Just a Little Lie

Chapter 4

Taylor ended up sitting next to Newt (he came back from talking to the other glader from before), Minho, and some other "keepers". Taylor still didn't understand how the system worked. She silently poked at the steak on her plate.

"You not hungry Tay?" she looked up to see Minho looking at her. She quirked an eyebrow at her new nickname.

"What? Uh, no, I mean yeah. I mean…. It's just…. nothing." She replied. This time Newt raised his eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"I don't eat meat." She sighed. Newt raised an eyebrow, but he had this look in his eye like this wasn't new info. Taylor wondered about it for a second before letting it go.

"Excuse me?" Minho asked.

"I'm a….." the word suddenly appeared in her mind. "Vegetarian."

"Well that sucks. Meat's what Frypan serves almost everyday." Newt said. Taylor made a face.

"Yeah. That sucks." She picked up her cup.

"If you're not going to eat your steak, can I?" Minho asked. Taylor choked on her water.

"Come again?"

"If you're not going to eat your steak, can I?" he repeated. She mutely nodded, and pushed her plate towards him. He grinned, picked up his fork, and started eating her steak. Taylor watched him with interest and disgust. When Minho finally realized that the whole table was staring at him, he lifted his head.

"What you Shucks looking at? I'm hungry and it's good food." He mumbled with his mouth full.

"Oh, no problem." Taylor said sarcastically. Minho went back to his eating. Taylor rolled her eyes at Newt. She opened her mouth to say some snide remark about Minho eating her food when a low rumbling noise filled the room. Taylor winced at the new noise as it made her headache range harder. "What the hell is that?" she asked to no one in particular. Newt smirked.

"The doors. They're closing." He replied.

"The what are doing what?" Taylor didn't quite register what he said. She hopped out of her seat, and ran over to the window to see that the big block doors that had been the open "gap" she was going to run through a few days ago were now closing. Newt appeared next to her.

"Didn't think they could close huh Greenie?" he said, a smirk on his face.

"No, I did-" Taylor stopped abruptly. Her eye widened. Her hand flew to her temple, and she looked around in confusion. The voices were back, slowly evolving into a loud shout in her mind. _KILL THE BOY._ The voice repeated again and again. _What Boy?_ Taylor echoed back in her head. She rubbed her temples in vain trying to make the voices go away. Her headache changed from a mild concussion-caused headache to a loud buzz that made the lights seem even brighter and made her dizzy.

"Hey. Love? You okay? Hello?" Newt snapped his fingers in front of her dazed eyes, repeatedly trying to communicate with her. "Taylor? What's going on?" Taylor could feel his gaze on her, trying to figure out why the girl in front of him was know rubbing her temples, shaking her head back and forth, and seemingly muttering to herself. And as the doors finally slid shut, the loud screech abruptly stopped, and so did the voices in Taylor's head. She stumbled into Newt slightly as the voices suddenly stopped.

"Hey. Hey, Greenie. You okay?" Newt set a steadying hand on her shoulder. Taylor took a deep trembling breath. Shaking her head softly as the headache slowly receded back into what it had been before the doors had closed. Taking another deep breath, she nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry bout' that." Her mind raced. She couldn't just tell him she was hearing voices in her head telling her to kill someone here. _Like that's a good trust-maker,_ she thought to her self. "Just my…Concussion. The…sound... made it worse." She lied, gesturing vaguely towards her head.

"Hey Greenie." She saw Alby yell over to them. "Time for your gathering."

"Right. Yeah. Coming." She mumbled glancing sideways towards Newt before walking away.

Authors Note: Hey Guys! Sorry for the long wait, and the short chapter. I feel like each chapter is getting worse and worse, so I might go back and change some things, just so you know. But thanks to Angel Michael, April Marciano , Cheshire. Cat's. Witch, Lunatica Moony, TheJaneOfAllTrades, and wildcat171 for favoriting. Thanks to Angel Michael, Cheshire. Cat's. Witch, Lunatica Moony, TheJaneOfAllTrades, wildcat171, Embers to Ashes (got it right this time!), Faithful5, bmdrwho12, and iristmr for following. And thanks to BookWorm237 and Embers to Ashes for commenting/reviewing. Thanks to all who are reading, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon!


	5. That Just Happened

Chapter 5

Taylor shifted around in her seat under many of the boy's gazes. Not all of them were looking at her. Newt and Minho were talking, so was Gally and some other boy someone had called Zart. Alby walked up to the front of the room.

"We have gathered to talk about the new greenie. Taylor." He paused for effect. "And yes, that's a girl name, as you have probably already found out. We need to agree on what to do about her." _What to do about me?_ Taylor echoed in her head.

"She's a girl. Useless and weak. Just another mouth to feed." Someone in the crowd piped up.

"He's right." Another agreed. Taylor's jaw tightened. _I'm not useless._ She thought angrily, and would've said other wise had Minho not given her a warning glance.

"She could be a spy from the creators. She probably has some secret plot to murder us all." Taylor's blood ran cold at that comment, at how close that statement was to the truth. _No. No. I'm not going to kill any one here. I'm not a murder._ She argued back to herself.

"I say we banish her." Some one declared. She froze. _Excuse me?_

"What?" Minho stood up. "Gally, you slinthead, why would you even say that?"

" She's a girl. She's weak or she could be a spy. She could be trained to kill on of us." Gally also stood up. Taylor couldn't take having everyone talking about her like she wasn't there and stood up in a flurry.

" _She_ is right here. So maybe you should fu-"

"Greenie, sit down." Ably demanded. Taylor turned on him, and was about to say something rather rude when Newt interrupted,

"Taylor, sit down." Taylor gave him a long hard look before she sat down. _Just because he used my actual name._ She thought bitterly.

"And easily angered." Gally added. And the argument was back on.

"We can't just throw her into the maze because she's a girl." Minho argued.

"Yeah, Shuck face, we kinda' can."

"We don't just throw innocent people into the maze!"

"How do you know she's innocent?"

"Why would you shucking say that she's not?"

"She's a _girl,_ " Gally stated. Taylor rolled her eyes angrily. _No shit Sherlock._ She paused for a moment, surprised at her own phrasing. _Sherlock?_ But dismissed it as the argument raged on."And the only one that the creators have sent here."

"Her being a spy is just as likely as one of us being a spy."

"He's right." Newt agreed. "She didn't ask to be here, and neither did any of you. Just banishing her would be cruel."

"Sit down, shut up, and we'll take a vote." Alby interrupted. "Zart, what do you say?"

"I say we give her a chance to prove herself worthy." He said.

"And how do we do that?" Ably inquired. Zart looked at Taylor thoughtfully.

"Make her a runner. Tomorrow she'll start-" Newt stood up, and Minho, who sat beside him, looked enraged at the idea. _A runner?_ Taylor echoed in her head.

"No greenie starts their work the next day they come." Newt interrupted.

"She's been here for about a week, Newt."

"With a concussion, unconscious." Jeff piped in. "Making her run the maze directly won't be good for her health."

"Let the shank finish." Alby barked. "Zart?"

"Make her run tomorrow and the days after. If she can keep up, then she can prove herself worthy and get a new job. If she doesn't kill Minho, then she's probably not a spy. If she can't, then she's out." _This is ridiculous._ Taylor thought. Newt, Minho, and Jeff looked like they were sharing the same thoughts.

"Any other ideas?" No one said a word. "Then raise your hand if you agree with Zart." Alby continued. Taylor's heart sank as she saw how many hands went up, even Alby's. She felt utterly betrayed. Was all that Alby had said in her defense before just to make her trust him?

"This is stupid. She's a girl." Minho was having trouble finding words.

"So?" Gally smirked, knowing that he had won.

"Taylor will run with Minho through the Maze tomorrow. If she can't keep up, then, Minho, leave her. If you don't then… just leave her if she can't keep up." Minho just glared at Alby who continued, "The new rules regarding the girl will be: you can't touch her without permission, except the maybe the Med Jacks. And no going into the bathroom when she's in there. Okay?" Murmurs of agreement filled the room. Taylor felt her face get hot from anger and slight embarrassment _._ "This gathering is dismissed." Everyone stood up to leave besides Minho and Newt, both looking extremely cross. "Greenie, can you stay for a moment? I need to discuss something." Alby asked casually, like he hadn't just sent her to some uncertain death. Taylor's tolerance shattered.

"Oh? You sure?" She snapped back at him, "Cus' I'm just a girl."

"Taylo-" She stormed out of the room before whomever had been about to speak spoke, with every boy's gaze stinging her back.


	6. A Little Calming Down Would Help

Chapter 6

Taylor felt sick, angry, and confused. Why did she recognize Minho and Newt and… almost every boy here? Who was the voice in her head? Why did they want her to kill some one? Who did they want her to kill? Why? Where _was_ she? Why was she here? Why was she the only girl? Why couldn't she remember anything? Why? What? How? Taylor didn't have the slightest clue to any of the answers to any of her questions. _Hopeless_ , She thought.

Knowing that someone was going to follow her, she sprinted away from the place the gathering had been held, trying to hold back the tears of frustration that were stinging her cheeks. Running all the way towards the small forest, she found a tall tree and hoisted herself up into it. Climbing like a monkey, she climbed all the way to the highest branch that could still support her weight. She sat there, opening and clenching her fists. _Come on Taylor, be strong. Don't cry. Stop Crying._ She coached herself. Taylor's small hope of being left alone for a while and not being found were soon squashed when someone by the base of the tree called her name…or rather her nickname.

"Green Bean?" _Ugh…Minho…_ "I know you're here…. somewhere." Minho said. She sighed.

"What do ya' want Minho?" she called back.

"Where the shuck _are_ you?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." She replied, not in the mood to really talk to him, or any one for that matter. Minho soon found her tree and looked up at her slumped against the trunk of the tree about twelve feet above ground.

"Wow. You can climb." He stated.

"Thank you Mr. Obvious." She muttered.

"So are you coming down, or am I coming up?" He asked.

"Hmm…How bout' you stay down and I stay up?" She retorted.

"So, you're not coming down."

"Not planning on it, no." Minho sighed.

"I guess I'm coming up then." Taylor laughed without humor.

"You can try, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Well, you didn't." he replied, pulling himself easily onto the first branch that hung about five feet above ground. Taylor cracked a small smile. She watched Minho easily lift himself up branch after branch. Not as swiftly and smoothly as she had, but still efficient. Even though he was wearing a sweater, Taylor could imagine the muscles in his arms- _Stop it Taylor._ She scolded herself.

"Don't go on that branch." She warned as Minho prepared to get on a branch two feet below her. "It's dead and won't hold your weight." He looked around for another close by branch to get on.

"How did you get on there then, there aren't any close branches." Minho said. She smirked.

"Guess you'll have to go around the tree. Cause' I weigh a _little_ less than you, and could get on that branch. But with you…eh…I wouldn't risk it." Minho pretended to look offended.

"Well then." He huffed. Taylor twisted around to watch Minho climb. "Course' most of this is muscle." Minho said, gesturing to his body with a free hand as he looked for a branch to climb on. Taylor scoffed.

"Sure." She responded, dripping her voice with sarcasm.

"Hey. Pretty sure you don't have arms like this."

"You're right. Mine are a little smaller."

"Oh. I was thinking more that mine were stronger." He was exactly one branch below her when he lost his balance and started to fall backwards. Taylor quickly grabbed his hand, pulled him back into balance, and onto her branch beside her.

"Thanks." He said, breathing hard. Taylor laughed, leaning her back against the tree trunk again.

"You should've seen your face when you lost balance. It was rather funny."

"Glad I could humor you." He said with a smirk. They fell into a silence. Minho cleared his throat awkwardly. "So…are you okay? You kind of left the gathering in…. a …. hurry." he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry for getting all emotional. I was so…frustrated and angry and confused with everything going on…so….um.."

"Hey. It's fine. I get you; everyone felt that way at the very beginning. I mean, while you are a whole different species than the rest of us boys, you still are human."

"Thanks Minho." She responded dryly. He laughed.

"So tomorrow I'll be getting you up early. We'll have to get you all geared up before we go into the maze." He said, clearly switching the subject to avoid any other awkwardness between them.

"So there's a maze out there?"

"Yep. And everyday we runners go out there as soon as the doors open to look for a way out."

"Have you found a way out?"

"Well, no. Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But we still go everyday…. Haven't found anything for about two years."

"Wow." Was all Taylor could say. "What happens if you don't make it back before the doors close?"

"Then you're stuck in the maze…No one has ever survived a night in the maze." Minho said gravely. "There are things out there… we call em' grievers. They go out every night. No one has ever seen one and lived to tell about it."

"And we're going to be going out there tomorrow."

"Yep."

"Great." She said. "Do you know what Alby wanted to talk to me about?" Taylor asked him, switching the topic again.

"Uh… yeah. He wanted to talk about sleeping arrangements. Newt and Alby, and me, think that you probably shouldn't just sleep in the same room as the rest of those shanks. So he said you could share a room with one of the keepers. He said you could chose who ever you were more comfortable with." Taylor thought on this for a while.

"Who are the keepers?"

"Guys…" Minho answered, quite vaguely, with a rather distracted look on his face. She raised an eyebrow.

"Um…okay then…who has a bigger room?" she tried.

"Um…probably Newt." Minho answered, the look on his face disappeared.

"Then I'll sleep with him." Her face heated up when she realized what she had said. "That's not what I meant." She stammered, and Minho busted out laughing. "You know what I meant. Thanks for being so kind Minho."

"Sorry, it's just…" he broke off laughing again.

"Glad I could humor you." She said, imitating Minho's earlier tone and words. Taylor waited for Minho to calm down before muttering, "Asshole." Minho chuckled. They fell into another silence. Taylor turned her eyes to see the lights of the fire the gladers had put up and lightened around the glade. She felt Minho watching her. His fingers brushed a piece of long hair off of her forehead and she looked back over to him to see him looking at the spot where her stitches were.

"Those are going to leave a scar." He said absent-mindedly. For some reason, Taylor liked this version of Minho better: kinder, having another quality besides humor and sarcasm.

"Ya, well, what ever, I don't really care. Not my 1st one anyway." She responded, watching the emotions on his face, meeting his gaze, and for a split second, she thought she saw a flicker of …something...remembrance maybe.. in his eyes, but it disappeared as soon as she saw it. She looked away.

Taylor shivered in the cold, wishing that she had been wearing a sweater when she came to the glade.

"We should probably get back to the others and tell them that you plan on sleeping with-" Taylor elbowed Minho in the ribs. Hard. "Ow! I was saying that you plan on sharing a room with Newt." _And…he's back._ Taylor glared at Minho, who was smirking evilly.

"Great." Taylor started her way down the tree. She looked up at Minho. "You coming?" She asked innocently.

"Um…" He looked at her sheepishly.

"Just follow me." Taylor said, rolling her eyes. She swiftly made her way down the tree with Minho close behind. Taylor jumped smoothly off of the last branch that hovered about five feet of the ground and landed with a soft WHUMP. She got up, brushing her jeans off, and looked up at Minho in time too see him jump and land with a not-so-graceful, loud THUMP.

"Smooth." Taylor commented.

"Slim it." Minho replied. "Let's go." And Taylor followed Minho back into the clearing.

Author's Note:

Many of you probably wanna kill me right now for such a late update, but….. I was literally in the middle of no where with no internet and just got back. I types this as soon as I could, and as fast, thus the bad quality: but I'm going back through everything and making edits, so…

Anyways, thanks for the 100 readers!JJJ (at least, there may have been more) JJJ

And thanks to those who favorited, followed, and reviewed. And Please Review and tell me everything I'm doing wrong… or hopefully right….and luv ya all!


	7. That Could've Gone Better

Chapter 7

Minho and Taylor up Alby, Newt, who were talking to a guy called Zart, in the same spot they had left them, having a heated discussion on whatever. Alby looked up at as they approached,

"Have fun?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me?" Taylor replied coldly, still angry with him from earlier. Alby's eyes darkened.

"So where she sleeping Shank?" Newt immediately inserted before Taylor could get herself into more trouble.

"Well, _she_ is right here a you could just asked her in person." Taylor said. Newt's eyes twinkled mischievously as he ignored her and looked at Minho expectantly for an answer. A pit buried itself into Taylor's stomach as she saw that twinkle in his eyes. It just seemed so familiar….

"Well, she said that sleeping…" Taylor plunged back into reality. She gave him a devil's glare as he spoke. Minho waggled his eyebrows evilly, but said, " _In_ your room would be best." She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Real mature shuck face." Taylor muttered. Minho smirked at her and Newt looked back and forth between them with a confused look on his face at both their behavior and her language. He shrugged,

"Good choice sweet heart." Newt stood up and stretched. "Might wanna' get going though, it's getting late, and you might wanna' hit the shower before ya' go to sleep." Taylor made a face.

"Did you tell her everything Minho?" Alby, who had been quiet the whole exchange, said with a cold manner.

"Yeah. Thought it would be better going out there knowing all the possibilities." Minho answered good-naturedly.

"Good that. Sadly for you, you have a shucking long day ahead of you" Alby said.

"Yeah. Thanks to you." Taylor added.

"Just doing my job." Alby's face said.

"Your job as in making people trust them, and then sending them to a almost not-so-certain-death?"

"I think we should go, don't you Taylor?" Newt said, elongating the "I", as he pulled her away from Alby before she could finish her sentence. "Your gonna' get yourself in trouble some day talking like that greenie." He said once they had gotten out of the room. Taylor sighed over dramatically, and switched the subject,

"Come on Newt. Pick a name. You've called me Taylor, Sweet Heart, and Greenie so far. Can you please pick one?"

"What ever you say love." He smirked.

"Six-o'clock!" Minho caught up with them. "I'm coming to wake ya' up at 6 green bean." He handed her a black backpack. "And here, this came up with you in the box."

"Thanks." She pursed her lips. "Where's the bathroom?"

"I'll show you, Minho, go get some sleep. You'll be running the maze tomorrow with an extra burden on your shoulders." Taylor scowled.

"I'm not a burden." She punched Newt in the arm.

"That's not for you to say is it?" Minho called back over his shoulder as he jogged away. Taylor scowled again.


	8. Sweet Dreams Taylor!

Chapter 8

Steam rose from the shower, and the windows were starting to fog as Taylor stepped out of the stall, hair wet and only wearing her cargo pants and the tank top that had been under her long sleeve shirt.

All that had been in the backpack Minho had handed her earlier was a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, extra black tank top, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and what looked like…a mp3 player? Nothing too helpful.

She walked up to the mirror and stared at the reflection that was staring back. Long sandy-brown-layered hair, made lighter in the bathroom's light, with random streaks of golden hair, that also seemed to come from the lights, surrounded a round tanned face with green eyes. _So that's what I look like…_ Taylor thought as she moved her head side to side, the mirror mimicking her moves.

A small sparkle by her collarbone suddenly caught her eye when she turned away from the mirror. Turning back, she looked down to see a small silver necklace that, somehow, she hadn't noticed before. The pendant showed a silver cracking heart with a pair of wings attached. Looking closely, Taylor could see that the words, "Nothing is as it seems" were etched into the heart.

After a moment of analyzing the necklace, she shrugged, slung the backpack around her shoulder, and walked out of the bathroom where Newt was waiting.

"My god. Do all girls take that long in the shower?" He asked, exasperated, unfolding his arms.

"I couldn't have taken _that_ long." She said as she fell in step next to Newt.

"I stood out there for 8 shucking minutes!"

"It's only 8 minutes." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"I can get a lot of things done in 8 minutes, sweetheart."

"I'm sure."

 **…**

 _She was in….what looked like the glade, but something was different. Something Taylor couldn't quiet but her finger on. It was almost as if everything was warped into different dimension. People surrounded her... some looking vaguely familiar. She bumped into the person in front of her, and they turned around, revealing a tall woman in her mid-forties, with dirty-blonde hair and chocolaty brown eyes. The first word that popped into her mind was, Mom? But then the woman disappeared, and was replaced with the image of Newt. He looked at her dully._

 _"Who are you?" He asked. Taylor gave him a strange look. Surely he hadn't already forgotten her over three hours. He turned around without waiting for her answer, and walked away. Taylor let her eyes trail his figure for a minute before moving forward._

 _Squeezing through the tightly packed crowd of people, she tried her best not to step on anyone's feet. When she paused and looked around, she saw Minho. Her heart jumped, and she moved closer to him._

"Minho. What's going on?" she whispered. He turned his head almost robotically. She immediately could tell that, yes it looked like Minho, but it wasn't him. His face was blank. His eyes were without the constant mischievous twinkle, his face without the joking demeanor.

 _"Who are you?" he said, in the same monotone Newt had used. Okay. Now this is getting creepy, Taylor thought. She backed away slowly from him, and in doing so she bumped into another person. This time, Alby turned around to look at her. Taylor knew what was going to come out of his mouth even before they did. And it sent shivers down her spine._

 _" Who are you?" The same look on his face. The same monotone voice. She turned in a circle. Everyone suddenly looked the same. They all were mouthing the words, "Who are you?"_

 _"What the hell…?" Taylor muttered, so confused that it was starting to give her a headache. Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and Taylor spun around, heart pumping in her chest. She saw a man with gray white hair, glasses, and that reminded her impeccably of a rat. He was grinning, a look that didn't seem to match his face, and trying to push something into her hands. When she looked down, her heart stopped. A black shiny gun shone in the dim light. Taylor's head snapped back up to look at the man. He grinned again, and pushed the gun towards her._

 _"Take it Taylor. They don't know who you are." What? How does that make any sense? Taylor's head spun as the chanting seemingly got louder. She looked up, and the people were closing in on them, their faces blurring together._

 _"Take it." The man repeated, the gun touched her hand, and –_ Taylor's eyes opened. She blinked at the bizarreness of her dream. Newt snored lightly beside her, in a hammock, similar to hers, that hung between two posts in the "room". She had found out quickly after Newt had led her from the bathroom that the "bedrooms" weren't really bedrooms at all. Just closed off areas of the fields, with a roof and, most of the times three walls.

Taylor sat up, brushing the blanket off of her legs. She looked around smoothing her wrinkled tank top, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. The door cracked open behind her, and Taylor twisted around to look.

"Hey Green bean. Ready?" A voice whispered. Her heart skipped for a second.

"Yeah. Hold on." She stood up quietly, careful not to wake up Newt, picked her long sleeve shirt off of the end of her hammock, and tiptoed out of the room.

They walked to the other side of the glade, through a little forest of trees, until they found a hut. Walking inside, she found a room that had map-covered walls, and a structure on a table in the middle. She gazed, mesmerized by the maps, but not seeing clearly what they showed.

"Those are maps of the maze." Taylor turned to see Minho sticking his head out of a trap door installed in the floor of the room. She looked back, running her fingers over the intricate lines, capturing every little detail of the maze that, to her, was still unknown. A thought came to her.

"Minho?" She called down through the trap door, keeping her eyes on the maps. She could hear ruffling before his muffled reply came back. "Where did you get the paper for the maps?" There was more ruffling before her replied, this time his voice clearer,

"Supplies come up through the box every month, with a new greenie. Water, food, paper…. Yeah. What size are you?"

"What?" Taylor climbed down the stepladder into a new room filled with shelves. Each shelf held either boxes of shoes, backpacks, clothes, little black boxes, ropes, chains, knives, and "things of all odds and ends"(James Dashner's words). Minho stood by one shelf, holding a box of shoes, looking at her expectantly. "Um…." Taylor bent down and looked at the pair of boots she was wearing. "Size…. 5." She glanced back up at Minho. He place the box back, and rummaged through the shelf, then moved onto the next shelf before he stopped at one box.

"Looks like we don't have any running shoes that size…but…shuck it, these should do." He grabbed the box and tossed it at her. She blinked, and raised her hands just in time to catch the box before it hit her face. "Nice reflexes." He remarked. "Put those on."

Taylor opened the lid, curious to what was inside, to find a pair of similar boots to what she was wearing.

"Can't I just wear the ones I have on? They're basically the same." She asked, but Minho was not where to be seen.

"Nah, the ones I gave you are lighter and better for running." His voice sounded from the back of the room. Taylor rolled her eyes but did as told. Minho reappeared from behind a shelf with a backpack, two knives, and a small black box in hand. "This has water, some shorts and shirts, that are probably too big considering that you're puny, and some other stuff. Clip these to you belt, as a precaution," he added when he saw her reaction to the knives, "and never lose this. Your life depends on it," He continued, opening the box to reveal a shiny plastic black watch. "Only the Runners get them.

Taylor strapped the watch onto her wrist, the digital face showing the time of 6:30, and clipped the two knives to the belt around her waist. When she looked up, she saw, for a splint second, Minho studying her face intently, but as soon as their eyes locked, green meeting brown, he turned away clearing his throat.

"Let's go get some breakfast and pack out lunches and we'll go."

A/N: HEyyy! So sorry about that..thanks to BookWorm237, Blackcat8539 and Embers to Ashes for letting me know about the weird...wording on the previous chapter 8! And sorry for the long wait... i typed everything in the library and posted this on my friend's computer, so everything is probably not top notch, but i'm going through and doing more edits as soon as we get back from vacay, but i'm doing this from someone else's computer, again. Mine seems to hate me and not want to work, again, so life is wonderful.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this, the 20 people who are now following, and the 10 people who Favorited. Thanks to all those awesome and kind people who have reviewed this story(not to say that you all aren't awesome and people).

And to the Guest reviewer, if you're still out there: there's a reason that Taylor is in Newts room instead of Minho's, and that reason you may or may not find out soon...*evil laugh*

Luv you all! Please Review!


End file.
